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American Literature Reference Sources

If you need information specifically on American literature, this is the place for you. Here we have begun a list of the resources in our Reference Collection that relate to topics within American Lit.

From a 20th century focus to ethnic literatures, to women's writing, you can find a little something for your topic. Don't forget you can also take the call number on the Reference material and head to the Main Collection Stacks to find related materials you can check out under the same call number.

 

  • Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. 2004. Reference 810.3 Ox22
  • 20th Century American Literature. 8 volumes. 1985. Reference 810.9 T91
  • American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies. 23 volumes. Reference 920 Am35
  • American Ethnic Writers. 2 volumes. 2000. Reference 810.992 A512a
  • American Ethnic Literatures: Native American, African American, Chicano/Latino, and Asian American. 1992. Reference 810.992 P36a
  • African American Writers. 2 volumes. 2001. Reference 810.9896 A258aa
  • The Oxford Companion to African-American Literature. 1997. Reference 810.8 O98o
  • Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. 2003. Reference 810.9896 A145e
  • Native American Literatures: an encyclopedia of works, characters, authors and themes. 1999. Reference 810.9897 W623n
  • Asian American Novelists: a bio-biographical critical sourcebook. 2000. Reference 813.54 A832a
  • The Companion to Southern Literature: themes, genres, places, people, movements and motifs. 2002. Reference 810.9975 E19
  • The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States. 1995. Reference 810.9 Ox2


Other Research Tools

  • Credo Reference
    A conglomeration of specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias that allows you to search for definitions and encyclopedia articles, as well as develop ideas for expanding or refining a research strategy.
  • Oxford Reference Premium Online  
    Oxford University Press produces a number of extremely useful reference materials, many of which they have made available here. You can search by keyword, but you can also choose particular subjects and from there, particular books within which to search. This willl provide you with all sorts of background and broad spectrum information on a particular topic.
  • Biography Resource Center  
    Find background information about people, authors, famous personalities, and others. Search by first or last name. 


Citation Help

One of the least favorite aspects of research papers are the citations, documenting the sources where you gleaned your information. To make that a little easier, the Library offers a few resources.

  • The Citation Style Guide is a place where you can find call numbers for print Style Manuals and Handbooks, as well as online help from several different universities around the States. Check it out and see if it helps!
  • RefWorks
    is a Citation Management program. Fully available online, and linked from the Library's home page, it allows you to keep it all ELECTRONIC. Download your citations from the various databases you're using into RefWorks. This program will create the Works Cited page for you with little effort. In a database, look for the option to EXPORT - that is where you'll find this gem of a program.
  • Automatically Generated Citations can be found in our Library Catalog (to the right of the item on the Results page), as well as in most EBSCO databases (like Academic Search Premier, PsycINFO, Communications and Mass Media Complete, etc.). Most databases either provide an instant citation in a couple of different styles, or they allow Exporting to RefWorks (see above). Ask a Librarian for more help in managing your citations and creating your bibliographies and works cited pages faster.
  • WorldCat.org
    "Cite this item" within individual item record lists the citation in APA, MLA, Chicago and more.
  • The Writing Center is also a solid resource. Available in the Library, this is run by the English department. If you'd like face-to-face help individually with citing or any aspect of writing and editing your paper, the Writing Center is the place to go. For more information, see their page on the Portal, or you can contact them at writingctr@taylor.edu.

 

Created by Lana Wilson, Reference Librarian

Last revised October 26, 2009 - 03:25 PM